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John Roberts

John Roberts (’07) Physics, Sheffield
Taught Science George Tomlinson School
Now Assistant Head Teacher, George Tomlinson School

My name is John Roberts, I studies Physics at the University of Sheffield and I’m now a teacher at George Tomlinson School in Manchester, and I’m just leaving in the next few weeks having set up a business where I am going into education consultancy.

I was very, very nervous at first and especially when Year 11 walked through the door. I was like “what on earth have I let myself in for”, and it was bottom set, and there were kids in there who were really very, very challenging - outside of school as well as inside of school – and that hour disappeared.

You have thousands and thousands of interactions every single day with hundreds of different people. And learning how to deal with all of those people and get the best out of all those people is probably the most valuable skill I have learnt. And I am sure it’s transferrable to business.

In the first year I set up a climbing club within school with the help of the school’s sports co-ordinator. We got £15,000 worth of funding from Awards for All and from other sources to buy a whole load of climbing equipment. And we put 12 pupils through the climbing wall scheme, so they were qualified to go to a climbing wall and top rope climb and be like each other. And that really helped with some of the quite challenging pupils, certainly some of the ones that I taught as well.

When you first get there and get a new class and there’s a really, really challenging pupil in there or there’s a group of challenging pupils, you have to work very, very hard with particular groups of pupils at first. And eventually they come round.

It’s not about them liking you but they start to possibly like their lessons, and turn up, and be polite to you, and you can see a real change - and that’s one of the best things about it.